Out With The Old, In With The New
by Kayolin33
Summary: The very heterosexual and socially awkward Dean Winchester breaks it off with his long time girlfriend, soon after, he meets his new, confident neighbor, Castiel Novak who has very blue, very distracting eyes. What will Dean discover about himself? Will he find an unexpected and less tragic romance?


I watched from the balcony of our Manhattan apartment as her van pulled off the curve carrying the last of her possessions away, _our_ apartment officially becoming _my_ apartment, just as it had been a little over a year ago. We had always gotten into fights, she occasionally threatened to leave but she never did. I felt numb, the apartment felt empty. Sometimes, during a particularly brutal fight, the small apartment would begin to feel even smaller and more oppressive, I would begin to think I longed for this, this feeling of emptiness, numbness, it had to be better than the pain, right? No. I turned away from the metal railing and pulled my brown leather jacket tighter around my body as I shivered in the winter air. The last thing i wanted to do was go inside and face a house without Jen, but the only alternative was freezing to death on a balcony on display a few hundred feet above a busy street for all to see. Since neither option sounded particularly pleasant, I pulled out my phone and texted the only other human being in the world I currently had any desire to see.

To: Charlie Bradbury, text sent 7:34 pm, Friday, March 05, 2014

Hey, Char, she left.

To: Dean, text sent 7:35 pm, Friday, March 05, 2014

Do u want me to come over? Dont bother answering. on my way.

I couldn't help but smile slightly. Charlie had been my best friend since high school, and I wouldn't trade her for the world. But as wonderful as Charlie was, having a female best friend was always some what of an in convenience, especially when walking around in public, everyone assumed we were a couple. But we never considered dating, as Charlie was strictly into girls. Between that and my brother Sammy always being mistaken for my boyfriend, I could hardly get a date until college, and thats when I met Jen. It was a bit like a bad chick flick, I had been a bad boy player and she was a good girl from a rich family with amazing grades and a future all laid out for her. Something that amazed me, having been raised by a bounty hunter father until I was 15 when he died and my brother and I were adopted by our uncle Bobby. My brother was the one who set us up, since both of them were aspiring lawyers. As for me, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and ended up with a bachelors degree in psychology, and then went back to school twice and still wasn't able to hold a decent job. losing my last one, a lousy job at a local movie theatre, was what finally pushed Jen over the edge. Lawyers don't date dead beat losers. Jen was my first and only love. I managed to pull myself out of my self induced pity fest before tears could well up in my eyes for the millionth time. I wouldn't let myself cry over her. _son of a bitch_ I thought, _my life is turning into one big cliche chick flick. _I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned on the screen just as a notification popped up, an " i'm here" text from Charlie. I slipped my phone back into my jeans pocket and turned away from the cold balcony and noisy traffic to my soon-to-be-not-so-empty apartment.

The moment I opened the door Charlie flew in like a redheaded whirlwind, bringing a wave of icy air with her. " Dean, I brought some ice cream, tissues and The Titanic on DVD." she said solemnly as she plopped down on…..._my_ couch…..in _my_ living room…...in _my_ apartment. I had to shake myself again before I could slip back into a pitty comma. "Cut the shit Char". I muttered as I sat down next to her. "Okay, okay, fine. I have Skyrim and three different kinds of pie." The rest of the evening was spent laughing, joking, eating, and killing various skyrim citizens for the Dark Brotherhood, and, of course, _not_ talking about Jen, with Charlie. Whenever Charlie had a bad break up, we would play video games _and_ talk. I could never do that, I could listen to her problems, but never voice my own. Charlie and Sam often called me " emotionally constipated". By the time we stumbled off to bed, our eyes were burning, all three pies were demolished, and the sun was almost up.

It was 3:45 pm by the time I woke up, I groaned and turned over to the side of the bed that Charlie had fallen asleep on, I half expected to find Jen, already bright eyed and bushy tailed and smiling at me. She had been a morning person. But all I found were empty sheets, _my _empty sheets along with a note from Charlie saying she had had to leave for work at 10:00. Unwilling to get out of bed, but equally unwilling to face my first day single in years, alone in _my_ apartment, without at least a cup of coffee, (Jen had taken _her_ coffee maker) I stumbled into my jeans, shoes, and signature leather jacket, and was out the door and headed to the coffee shop down the street in a matter of seconds. On the way out of my building, I notice boxes piled outside of the apartment next door. Fair enough, someone moves out of the building, someone else moves in.

I walked into the small coffee shop, its look and smell were familiar… too familiar, the white tile floor, the green tables and chairs, this is where I had finally asked Jen to move in with me, that day had been a big deal for me, it felt like we were becoming a family, something I had never had much of. I walked hurriedly up to the counter, and, in my distracted state, hadn't recognized the only employee behind the counter today. As punishment, I was met with a loud " Hey! Dean-o!" shouted by Kevin, the nickname seemed to echo around the shop like it was the grand canyon, several customers seated at tables, most of them had been staring at laptops with earbuds in, looked up. " Hey Kev." I replied awkwardly. Kevin was a college student and aspiring writer who somehow always seemed to be working when I decided to get coffee there. After I chatted with Kevin for what felt like hours, I got my coffee and headed back towards my apartment building to play more Skyrim, having had enough social interaction for the day. When I was half way up the stairs to my floor, a man, whose face I couldn't see because It was obscured by the large stack of boxes he has carrying, came barreling around the corner and promptly tumbled down the stairs. I ran back down to the landing, where the man was sprawled on the ground along with his boxes. " whoa, dude, you do know there is an elevator, right?" I asked, offering him my hand. He took it and pulled himself up. " Uh, well….I suppose I do now" he groaned as he looked down at his boxes of… well… hopefully nothing breakable. The man looked up and I got a clear view of his face for the first time. He had a gentle, slightly scruffy face and dark hair, he looked to be in his late 20s like me….and his eyes….his deep ocean blue eyes met mine and, oddly, I felt my heart speed up, they were like a whirlpool and I was drowning in them...being pulled in. The man's brow furrowed and his head tilted to the side and for a moment he looked like a curious pug, "hey", the blue-eyed man asked, pulling me out of my strange trance, " don't you live in the apartment across the hall? As you can see…" he gestured to the forgotten boxes, "I'm just moving in." he held out his hand for me to shake. It was then that I realized how close we were standing and had to step back in order to take it.

"er…. i'm Dean…...Winchester" I muttered, feeling weirdly tongue tied. The man laughed "Hi Dean…...Winchester. I'm Castiel Novak, but everyone calls me cas."


End file.
